Small Business

We often tell you how DAS provides for a comprehensive income protection plan, including Medicare, to clients suffering from debilitating conditions. I thought I would share the words of one of our clients to bring the point home for you:

“… I totally and completely appreciate all and every one of you and your team for all the hard work that was done on my behalf. I am happy and excited to know that my years of paying into the system have come back now to support me and my family in my now retirement time. Although, money can NEVER replace good health, it does make it a whole lot easier to bear. I wish I could say that I woke up this morning feeling no pain, but alas that is not the case. It will make my life so much better knowing that I may not have to worry about how my bills will be paid or if I can enjoy a vacation or two with my new grandchildren. God bless all of you and thank you again!!”

DAS will certainly not cure these conditions or “ease the pain” people are suffering from, but it does eliminate the fear and worry about how they will make ends meet while they deal with their health. Imagine the satisfaction you get by helping your clients during life changing events!

Remember the sales contest – DOUBLE first year’s commissions!

Need refresher training, marketing brochures or help in how to present DAS to employers and clients? Give us a shout!

Over the past year or two we have introduced a unique concept to help save your self-funded plan on retiree healthcare costs. This is NOT Medicare Advantage or some other type of retiree plan, it is pure cost savings!

Here are some things to consider:

Pre-65 retirees have average costs 40% higher than employees of the same age.

Open enrollment season is fast approaching and we are all gearing up to have a great year in sales. We would like to provide an additional incentive to you by offering double the first year’s commissions on all NEW DAS sales. We are having tremendous success in offering DAS through the agent and broker network, and we want you to share in that success. Remember, DAS is a perfect fit alongside your voluntary products and offers an affordable comprehensive income protection plan when combined with an STD, CI, Hospital or Accident policy. Some of the current markets DAS is being sold into include:

City Employees

Housing Commissions

Tool and Die Workers

Restaurant Workers

Dentist Offices

Doctors’ Offices

Home Healthcare Workers

Child Care

Plumbers

Insurance Agents

Teachers

Nurses & Hospital Workers

Law Firms

Custodial Workers

Auto Dealerships

Veterinarians

Optometrists

Property Management

Office Workers

Tire and Auto Centers

Cleaning / Maid Services Rehab Offices

Collision Shops

PEO Services

Many more

If they can’t afford LTD or get underwritten for it – they are a perfect DAS case!

Double the commissions for the first year and the ability to offer your clients a low cost valuable service, a win-win opportunity!

For more information on the contest feel free to contact me at any time! Good luck and have a great open enrollment season!

Last time we talked about the second part of word of mouth tactics to help you put together a system to shorten the purchasing decision time of your customers, which can increase your profits immensely.

Today we’re going to talk about the nine levels of word of mouth, giving you a tool to measure the word of mouth circulating around your company, products and services. You can then see where you are getting negative or weak word of mouth and find ways to correct it.

So, launching into the nine levels of word of mouth – it should seem relatively obvious that the negative levels are, well, negative and the positive levels are positive.

Minus 4

This is the worst of the worst and means your product is creating a scandal. Remember when the popular over-the-counter pain relievers, like Tylenol, were deemed unsafe? Yeah, you won’t want that kind of word of mouth.

Minus 3

Disgruntled customers are going out of their way to keep other consumers from purchasing your products and services. They are boycotting you.

Minus 2

While not outwardly boycotting, when customers are asked about you they will give a negative response.

Minus 1

At this level, people are mildly dissatisfied and while not outwardly talking about it, they will have an opinion if asked. Now, they may still purchase from you despite their negative feelings, which can be a little confusing.

Level 0

This is sort of a neutral place to be. Customers are using your products, but don’t really talk about it. People rarely ask them about it, so they aren’t sharing their opinion with others. This can be a bit of a slippery slope, because you don’t want to turn that neutral experience into a negative one. In fact, you should work to make it a positive one.

Plus 1

At this level we are finally starting to work our way into the positive word of mouth about your company, products and services. Plus 1 signifies that people are generally pleased with your products, but unless asked, don’t really say anything about them.

Plus 2

When asked, your customers will talk about how much they love your products.

Plus 3

Customers will go out of their way to talk about your products, services, company and their shopping experience with you. This is most evident when you see how people recommend movies to their friends and family.

Plus 4

Your product is the toast of the town. There is an obvious buzz going around and your business is the place to be. People are not only talking about your great products and services, but they are talking about their shopping experience, your customer service and how they perceive the company to help them in the future.

Some great examples of Plus 4 companies are:

Nordstrom

Coca Cola

Apple

Audi

FedEx

Tesla

We’re going to leave this lesson for you to mull over and take a look at what kind of word of mouth you are generating. If you need help with this process, reach out to us!

Next time we’re going to talk about the 30 ways to harness the power of word of mouth.

More than 100 million working Americans have no disability coverage other than Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). Millennials – now the largest part of the workforce – may be most at risk. Millennials are least likely to have disability coverage offered through their employers or private insurance providers, and most don’t understand long-term disability insurance.

However, one in four 20-year-olds will become disabled before they retire, as noted by the Council for Disability Awareness. This is a reality many boomers are experiencing firsthand. Nearly 75 percent of all individuals receiving SSDI benefits today are between the ages of 50 and full retirement age, according to the Social Security Administration.

Yet, SSDI remains difficult to obtain, and it should. Why? It is there for those who need it the most, those who are truly disabled and no longer able to work or care for their families. Making the process hard for everybody limits those who want to take advantage of the system but hurts those who really need it.

That is where DAS comes in. You are providing your employees/subscribers access to a long-term disability alternative that includes healthcare without having to go it alone with the government or worse yet, using attorneys that get paid based on how long the case takes.

Think about that the next time you are evaluating insurance protection!

The Rule of 1% is simply defined as adding to your customer service one percent at a time. Before you can do this, you must have your consistency perfected or it will never work. This one percent may seem small, but if you approach the vision for your company with baby steps, you will find a huge increase over a solid chunk of time. It’s not a sprint; it’s a marathon.

Avoid doing too much at once or you’ll set yourself up for failure. Think of the confidence you and your employees will have when you improve one percent each week. By the end of a year, you’ll have improved more than 50%!

While, rules and standards are necessary for growth, always be flexible with your best customers. Most retailers only allow a set number of items into a dressing room to reduce the risk of shoplifting, but it generally restricts the large percentage of people who are not stealing from you. Flexibility is the key towhat you deliver to your customers and consistency is the key to how you deliver it.

The bottom line is that customers rely on you to deliver what you promise. If you spend too much on bulky advertising that promises more than you can deliver, even your best intentions will unravel quickly and you will fail.

I hope you’ve learned a lot out good customer service and how it’s essential to your overall success. If you need help with any of the steps we’ve gone through over the last four lessons, try our FREE test drive and get access to some of the best resources, tools and coaches available.

In upcoming posts, we’re going to explore strategies of bagging the big clients and keeping them.

The biggest area of turn-key businesses is franchises. There is a franchise for every industry in the world. They are fairly easy to acquire and come with practically a pop-out-of-the-box, pre-assembled system. McDonald’s is a prime example. In fact, a $40 billion, 28,707 franchise strong example.

There are a few things we are going to talk about:

Business Format Franchise

The Franchise Prototype

Franchise Prototype Standards

Business Format Franchise

The business format franchise came from an earlier model called the “trade name” franchise. The big change was in the rights. During the “trade name” days, the franchise owner only had marketing rights, now franchise owners have owning rights to the entire business including systems. This has allowed for a shift in focus to go from the quality and name recognition of the products carrying the business to sales techniques that carry the business.

The Franchise Prototype

It was really the franchise prototypes that allowed for the changes to be made that help today’s franchises really shine with the techniques developed by the owners instead of the corporation. This can make a significant difference in the success of the franchise as the owner can custom tailor their marketing and promotions to the direct needs of their local target customers.

Franchise Prototype Standards

Now, the above being said, no one in their right mind would purchase a franchise if the parent company didn’t have a solid plan of action set up to ensure the prospective success of the business. So, there are a few standards that are put into place that help jump-start the process of opening a successful franchise.

They must build a model of prospective customers/clients, suppliers, creditors and employees who will consistently offer high quality work.

Build a user-friendly model that can be used by individuals of any skill set.

Build a defect-free model.

Build a model with an Operations Manuals.

Build a model that will provide guaranteed, consistent results.

Build a model that encompasses the same branding in color, dress and facilities codes.

These are all ways the parent corporation makes sure their brand stays the same and in the front of the minds of customers. When you are purchasing a widely-known brand, you will attract customers just for being you.

If you are considering purchasing a franchise, talk with one of our experienced business coaches during our FREE test drive.

The 7 specific areas you need to consider in your franchise prototype process:

Primary Aim

Strategic Objectives

Organizational Strategy

Management Strategy

People Strategy

Marketing Strategy

Systems Strategy

These 7 areas will fine-tune your plan for the ultimate level of success. In this lesson, we are going to cover the first three.

Primary Aim

It’s essential in business development to set goals and see a vision for the future. This needs to go beyond the business and you need to think about what you want out of life. What do you dream about? How do you see your success unfolding? Knowing and understanding these things will give you the momentum to get started and the stamina to see it through. Even take a minute to write them down and tape to your desk for a constant reminder of what you’re aiming for.

Strategic Objectives

These are essential in taking your business from surviving to thriving. All of these objectives should offer solutions for how to get to your primary aim. There are many things you can use to set strategic objectives, but here are a couple of the most popular:

Money: Setting monetary goals is a great, simple way to see how you are doing at any point in the game. It’s easy to measure and easy to find adjustments to help meet this goal.

Worthy Opportunities: When considering partnerships and other business opportunities, you need to think about whether or not they will help you reach your primary aim. Those that will are the best opportunities to seriously consider.

The key in setting standards and goals is not to limit you or stress yourself out. You need to find some quantifiable things you can use to measure your progress toward your primary aim. These are just two suggestions, but make sure no matter what the standards you set, you are paying attention to the details, as these are one of the biggest keys to your success.

Organizational Strategy

The strength of your organizational structure can make or break your business, so it’s important to take the time to put together a solid structure for your business to grow from. Generally, a company is organized around the roles and responsibilities that need to be taken care of on a daily basis and the personalities that need to fulfill those roles.

No matter what roles and responsibilities you’ve defined for your employees, you must always keep your personal primary aim separate from your company’s primary aim or mission statement. Once you’ve identified the primary aim for your company, it will be easy to set up a position structure that will work.

Don’t forget to put together position contracts. Your employees should sign a statement of their roles and responsibilities. This helps keep them clear for you, the employee, and other employees/vendors or other individuals.

You can see how these areas all work together to build a solid structure on which to build your business. If you need help defining any of these areas, you can check out the resources, tools and speak with one of our fantastic coaches during your FREE test drive.

Today, I’m going to talk about the life cycle of a business and how to get the most out of each cycle while also extending the lifespan of your business.

The four different stages of a business life cycle are:

Infancy

Adolescence

Growing Pains

Maturity

We’ll talk a little about what each of these cycles means and how they can each help expand your business’s lifespan.

Infancy

This is generally considered the technician’s phase, which is the owner. At this point, the relationship between the business and the owner is that of a parent and new baby. There is an impenetrable bond that is necessary to determine the path your business will follow.

The key is to know your business must grow in order to flourish. You cannot stay in this stage forever.

Adolescence

In this stage you need to start bringing your support staff together to delegate to and allow growth to happen. The first line of defense is your technical person, as they need to bring a certain level of technical experience. This cycle really belongs to the manager though. The plan stage needs to start and a relationship should be built with the entrepreneur to plan for the future.

Growing Pains

There’s a point in every business when business explodes and becomes chaotic. This is referred to as growing pains. It’s a good problem to have, but a problem nonetheless. You are often faced with a number of choices:

Avoid growth and stay small

Go broke

Push forward into the next cycle

Maturity

The last cycle is maturity, though this doesn’t mean the end of your business. Your passion for growth must continue in order for your business to succeed. You need to keep an entrepreneurial perspective in order to push your business forward.

You see how all three of these cycles are connected and depend on a strong foundation for each one of them for your business to be and continue to be successful. All three of your key roles must also work together to work through these cycles.

If you’re having trouble putting together your business life cycles and figuring out which of the key roles you fit into, try our FREE test drive and work with one of our amazing coaches.

Today we’ll take a look at how the kings of industry wine, dine and otherwise cajole prospects.

Most of successful professionals use a series of information based ads that build emotion and a call to action. These are much more effective than a standard company branding advertisements. The same principles that go into putting together a high impact (and, often, high priced) ad campaign can be adapted to fit your needs with similar results.

Here are some ways to put together and execute a professional, effective ad campaign:

Put together a short report that you’ll automatically send to prospects when they contact you. This should include a short description of your business and what you specialize in. Don’t forget to include case studies, samples or other proof of your success.

Develop value-oriented ads.

Consider newsletters as a way of educating and informing customers about your industry and services offered.

Offer a free seminar, webinar or other lecture to build awareness of your business, but make sure you make the information pertinent to your target market and find speakers who are respected and known in the industry.

Buy an existing business, introduce better marketing and grow this new business faster than a “from scratch” business.

Always test different versions of your ads to find the most effective ones.

Use direct mail marketing to grow your business.

Put together a database of previous customers and send them new information.

Approach large firms who may need your services and negotiate a deal to be their exclusive expert in your field.

Offer a 24-hour information line with a regularly updated recorded message. Make this available to all past and future customers/clients.

Donate time or materials to local charities to show support in your area.

Offer public clinics for the general public to come along and discuss what they need that’s free and approachable.

Organize seminars your customers/clients can pay to attend by putting together a high-perception value package.

Approach local newspaper by offering to write a weekly column about your area of expertise. Don’t ask for money, just a byline and bio.

Develop a weekend or other destination seminar for customers/clients, not only does this give you an action-packed weekend with the most important people, it gives them a tax-deductible business adventure.

Take a good seminar and turn it into written form as a home study, member site program, audio or video program.

Approach large companies and offer to give seminars to their employees, investors or management.

Be proactive with your marketing plan.

Barter for your marketing. Offer products or services in lieu of payment.

Be willing to bring in new clients, even if at an initial loss because it will likely pay off later.

Regulate your marketing budget to maximize the potential income from them to hit the next year and try to push back advertising costs for the next year to offset your expenses.

Make offers to target markets or target market businesses to pay them for referrals or shared databases.

Give away something free to everyone who brings in a print version of your advertisement. This is a great way to see which ads are giving you the most bang for your buck.

Continually consider what new products/services you can offer to current customers/clients.

Develop a mail order division of your company.

Offer a proposition to your competitors to trade customers/clients you were both unsuccessful in selling to.

Use different marketing tactics as an excuse to attract new customers/clients with new offers and goodies.

Offer a “you-choose-the-price” program. This is especially good for product you just can’t seem to sell.

So, there are 30 great ways to market to other professional and businesses. Some other great ways to get your name out there for little or no cost are:

Get involved you in your community-volunteer, donate to local events, etc.

Join your local Chamber of Commerce and attend the networking and other activities throughout the year.

Join a local, state or regional professional associates for further networking opportunities.

Become a board member of a local organization.

Advertising should never be your only method of marketing, there are a myriad of ways to get your name out there in a way that feels personal to potential customers/clients.

“Effective advertising…must be used to get your name out to the public. If your name is not familiar to people, they will not come to you.” Jay Abraham

If you’re not sure where you start with your marketing plan or how to reach out to your local community, competitors, customers/clients and others who could influence your business in a highly positive way, try our FREE test drive to experience the tools and resources we have to boost your business to the next level and beyond.